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The last time I had jury duty I wound up being the Jury Foreman on a murder trial that lasted two days and then it took another two days to reach a verdict.

Have you ever had jury duty?

Do you consider it to be a pain in the butt or something interesting?

Yeah, twice. Once--several years ago--was for a dude who molested a child...didn't get picked but the guy looked creepy and I am kinda glad I didn't get picked. Last time was a year ago....got picked and it was for a drug charge where this skinny old black guy was accused of intent to sell. The defense claimed he was "set up" by the Daytona Beach undercover unit...but honestly it was pretty clear cut to us in the jury. We deliberated for about 30 minutes (really, we didn't need that long) and I ended up being the jury spokesperson because everyone else was reluctant to do so. Wimps. But it was a cool process. (But bring a book if you waiting to be called or sent home!) Lasted for 2 days...in fact, on day two we were done shortly after lunch.

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." H.P. Lovecraft in Supernatural Horror in Literature

I was on a jury once in Detroit, in Recorder's Court, before it was merged with the county criminal court system. It was a home invasion/attempted criminal sexual conduct case. We ended in a hung jury, split not by race, but by age (I was the only white person on the jury, after the alternates were dismissed prior to deliberations). Most of the jurors were retirees, three of us were civil servants (who always get leave from work for jury duty).

Why we younger jurors voted to aquit:

1. The cop investigating was caught in a couple of big lies, about how she did her investigation.
2. The lineup process was flawed.
3. The home was dark, the individual was wearing a scarf over his face, and the only person who put the defendant at the scene was originally charged as a codefendant. A matter of fact, the description given by the witnesses at the scene matched this guy much more closely than the defendant, who was a unique-looking man, even if he had had a scarf over the bottom part of his face.
4. There were lots of defense witnesses who were obviously lying to try to give the defendant an alibi-grandma, mom, friends, etc. But the defendant himself was a good witness in his own defense, as was his girlfriend. She said "he was in bed with me when I went to sleep and was there when I woke up". When asked if he could have gotten up and come back to bed while she was sleeping, she said "possibly, but I was 8 months pregnant at the time and I would have likely woken up".

The jurors who voted to convict were upset. They went to the prosecutor and told him that when the case got tried again, he should try to find a cab driver that took the defendant to the neighborhood, or a record from a cab company of that fare. That would have convinced me.

I never want to serve on a jury again, at least not until I retire. That one took 4 days away from work.

Also a saving grace for the rest of the jury !Can you imagine listening to Bridget arguing compassion for Ted Bundy for several days ,OMG !

"Yes, Bundy was a victim of a loveless, cold childhood...and despite his wealthy upbringing and obvious high-intellect, the lack of attention by his parents as a young boy led him down the path to become one of the most notorious serial killers of all time. It is so easy to understand why he became this way....we just have to understand him! He had no choice but to slaughter innocent young women!"

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." H.P. Lovecraft in Supernatural Horror in Literature